U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,910 issued to Schaefer on June 11, 1974 discloses a catamenial tampon having a liquid pervious overwrap and an aggregate absorbent body. Schaefer discloses an aggregate absorbent body made of discrete foam bits shaped as cubes and, in a preferred embodiment, an ancillary absorbent material defined to be super absorber CLD, cross-linked carboxymethyl cellulose. Schaefer does not disclose use of an improved absorbent means wherein foam blocks are coated with an absorbency improvement means, such as fibrous material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,140 issued to Crowe on Feb. 25, 1964, U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,141 issued to Crowe on Feb. 25, 1964, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,242 issued to Crowe on Nov. 10, 1964, disclose various absorbent bandage devices having a flexible sheet of cellulose sponge material, a layer of absorbent other than textile length fibers, and textile length fibers pierced through the cellulose sponge material to contact the wound surface. In the Crowe patents, the cellulose fibers extending through the cellulose sponge material act to wick body fluids from the surface of a wound through the cellulose sponge and into the nontextile length fiber absorbent material. The Crowe patents do not claim an improved absorbent material using a hydrophilic foam material whose surface is covered with fibrous absorbency improvement means which wick liquid both into and around hydrophilic foam means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,030 issued to Basham on Aug. 19, 1975 discloses a tampon having an absorptive body of hydrophilic polyurethane foam containing from about 15 to 30 percent by weight of finely divided, water-swellable polymer. The Basham patent does not have an aggregate absorbent body of a plurality of foam blocks and does not use an absorbency improvement means such as cellulose fibers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,270 issued to Dostal on Oct. 3, 1972 discloses a tampon having two absorbent layers wherein one of the layers is made of an absorbent filament and the other is of an absorbent material containing a plurality of holes. The filaments in Dostal are directed through the holes of the absorbent layer in a direction transverse to the body of the tampon. The filaments bind together the layers of absorbent material and help wick menses through the layers of absorbent material. The absorbent material in Dostal does not include a hydrophilic foam material coated by a fibrous absorbency improvement means. The fibers used in Dostal bind together and penetrate an absorbent sheet and not a foam means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,549 issued to Poncy on Dec. 28, 1976 discloses a tampon having a core of highly absorbent, noncompressible fibrous material surrounded by a sheet of resilient, open cell hydrophilic foam which is liquid transmissive. The foam sheet acts as a cushioning element to make the tampon more comfortable and to transmit liquid through the foam to the absorbent core. Poncy does not disclose blocks of hydrophilic foam coated with fibrous material to improve the absorbency nor does it teach a plurality of absorbent materials used in an aggregate body of a tampon.
None of the above disclosed background patents teach an improved absorbent means made from blocks of foam means coated on the surface with an absorbency improvement means. Furthermore, none of the disclosed background art teaches use of a plurality of such absorbent means in an overwrap to create an absorbent catamenial such as a tampon.